Barcelona 7-0 Valencia: Five Talking Points
Rampant Barcelona dished out a soul-crushing defeat to Gary Neville and his troops as the defending King's cup champions demolished Valencia by 7-0 at the Camp Nou and all but book a place in the finals. Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi shared the goalscoring exploits as the former netted 4, whilst the Argentine bagged a hat-trick.The Catalans flew out of the gates right from the off and raced to a 3-0 lead by half-time. Valencia defender Shkodran Mustafi was sent off for tripping Messi just moments before the break, and Neymar struck the resultant penalty against the crossbar.The second half started in the same way as the first, with the hosts dominating in every department and attacking at full throttle. Now with also a one-man advantage, the Blaugrana's job was made easier and pumped in 4 more goals by full time to round off a resounding night.Here are some of the things we learnt from the carnage at the Catalan capital.
#1 Barcelona back to their clinical best
After some sloppy performances in the last three games or so, Barcelona finally conjured their rip-roaring best and how. The Catalans were the better side right from the first minute till the last, and the scoreline is merely a reflection of it.
The hosts, today, did not start the game on the backfoot and instead, opted to go all out on the visitors, who rather looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights of a car whenever Barca surged forward in numbers. The listless Valencia committed way too many mistakes and were soundly made to pay for it.
The stellar frontline of ‘MSN’ looked fearsome, belting the visiting defence black and blue with their treacherous link-up play and goalscoring exploits. Neymar may have missed a penalty and failed to get on target, but the brilliance of Suarez and Messi gave that a secondary status.
It was a night to remember for manager Luis Enrique and co. as they have one foot in the final and more importantly, got back to their clinical best.